Get used to Aaron Rodgers

When people think of the elite quarterbacks in the NFL, the first names that usually come to mind are Brady, Manning and Brees. Safe to say after last night and indeed this season, Aaron Rodgers must be included in that group. Last night the Packers won in large part because Rodgers outplayed his counterpart Ben Roethlisberger, and I would say he did so by a wide margin. Rodgers’ Super Bowl numbers were certainly very good (24-39 304 yards and three touchdowns with no picks) but they would have been even better if not for at least four dropped balls on perfect passes (one of which had a good chance to go for an 80-yard touchdown). All told Rodgers threw nine touchdown passes in four postseason games, all on the road, with only two interceptions. Those mirror the touchdown to interception ratio for his career (87 career touchdown passes to 32 picks). Considering Rodgers has only been a full time starter for three years and is still on the upswing, well, the Packers might produce more of the same for years to come.

If anybody should feel vindicated about Rodgers’ success it’s Packers GM Ted Thompson. After Brett Favre announced the first of his many retirements following the 2007 season, Thompson made the decision to move forward with Rodgers, who had been chomping at the bit for his chance to take over for Favre. When Favre said later that summer that he wanted to come back, the Packers found themselves in a very tough position. Many teams have had trouble replacing their legend quarterbacks. Miami has still not found a replacement for Dan Marino more than 10 years after his retirement. Same goes for the Broncos and John Elway, the Bills and Jim Kelly. The 49ers had Steve Young step in when Joe Montana retired, but they have yet to find even a semi-capable replacement for Young. There are other teams still that arguably have never had a franchise QB in their history (the Chicago Bears come to mind as a team still looking for their first as Jay Cutler is clearly not it). Given this, a lot of people, including me, thought the Packers should have allowed Favre to come back in 2008. The reasoning was simple, legend quarterbacks just don’t get replaced. Rodgers has proven that theory wrong, and he has done so in such emphatic fashion that it’s fair to ask whether his career won’t end up better than Favre’s.

Favre of course played three seasons after that, one with the Jets and two with the Vikings. While Favre led the Vikings to an NFC Championship game appearance last year and continued to play at a high level (until this year), Rodgers showed right away why the Packers were so high on him and why they didn’t want him holding any more clipboards on the sideline. All Rodgers did in his first full season as a starter was throw for over 4,000 yards and 28 touchdowns. At age 27, he already has many Super Bowl titles as Favre had in his whole career. He throws the ball with stunning accuracy, and while he’s mostly a pocket passer, he has proven adept at avoiding the rush when he needs to. He gives you the good qualities of Favre without the off the field drama or the hair pulling interceptions. Rodgers is every bit as good as Manning, Brady or Brees. Perhaps the scariest part for NFC opponents is that the Packers won the Super Bowl this year despite losing a staggering 15 players to injured reserve. The running backs and receivers are young, and so is the defense.

Recent history has shown that Super Bowl champions are highly unlikely to win a playoff game the next year, let alone repeat as champions. The last Super Bowl champ to win a playoff game the next year was New England, when the repeated as champions in 2003 and 2004. That said, the Packers have as good a chance as any to repeat next year, and compete for a good long time. As long as Rodgers is under center he will have the Packers in prime position .